My Insane and Bold Prediction of the Week

Every week, I’ll make a crazy but somewhat legitimate prediction for an upset in the college football world.

The Insane and Bold Prediction has been a weekly installment of off the radar upsets throughout the entirety of the college football season. It will be coming to an end soon. So far, I’ve hit two upset calls and just missed one. Almost doesn’t count, however … especially if you’re Tennessee. Last week brought the second upset pick of the season. Texas A&M beat Oklahoma handily in College Station last weekend. Despite a bevy of mistakes, the Aggies still won 33-19. Texas A&M’s defense stuffed the run, holding the Sooners to 72 yards on 44 carries.

The Line: Auburn -8
CBS, 2:30 pm CST**This game has been taken off the board in Vegas due to numerous reports that Auburn’s starting quarterback, Cam Newton, will be held out of the game on Saturday.

The Georgia Bulldogs travel to Jordan-Hare stadium in one of the South’s oldest rivalries tomorrow.

First off, Georgia is capable of winning this game whether Auburn has Newton or not. Obviously, the advantage quickly goes to Georgia if Newton is held out, but I’m not making this pick based on Newton possibly sitting.

It’s tough to say if Auburn will sit Newton. The allegations have only escalated rather than slow down. It seems like each day brings a new accusation.

On one hand, Auburn should probably keep playing him just because they have already came this far with him and it would be a shame to sit him only to find out later that everything was a hoax. This, of course, seems unlikely. I’m pretty sure something happened, but there’s no way of knowing the full truth at the present time, though.

On the other, Auburn really does need to start thinking about the future of their program. If they don’t promote an atmosphere of compliance, the punishment could be very severe from the NCAA. Still, these allegations have no merit right now. I think Cam Newton plays tomorrow.

Auburn’s defense is going to have a tough time slowing down Georgia in the air. They haven’t had much success at stopping any team in the air, to be fair. It’s not like Georgia brings a prolific air assault to the table, but they do have a special talent at wide receiver. A.J. Greenis going to wreak havoc on the Auburn secondary and this will open up the ground game for Ealey and King.

Auburn can stop the run, so Georgia will need to have success in the air early on to help open it up. Both teams are statistically good at stopping the run (13th and 18th), but I think Auburn’s is better. Georgia is going to have to bring it’s best effort yet at stopping the running game. Auburn will be able to run the ball with ease against Georgia, but I expect the Bulldogs to show some grit. This is a rivalry game, after all.

The Georgia pass defense is better than Auburn’s, but whose isn’t? Auburn is ranked 95th in pass defense, but that hasn’t stopped them from posting an undefeated season to this point.

When it comes down to it, this game will be a shootout. Neither team plays defense exceptionally well. The winner may very well be the last one who has the ball. I think that team will be Georgia. Auburn’s character is tested each week and it only gets tougher as the season goes along.

Georgia wins 37-34.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment box below. You can e-mail me suggestions or questions at jtmcadams@aol.com. Follow me on Twitter @JoeSportswriter.